An image showing two copies of Core 16 magazine. The top copy shows the front cover, which features a sad polar bear on a small ice flow in the middle of the sea, accompanied by the question Can Business Save the Planet Again? The second copy is open to the first internal page.

Meltdown: Core 16 is packed with research to help businesss leaders navigate the sustainability transition

Can business save the planet, again? That is the question we ask on the front cover of our new edition of Core magazine, which is devoted entirely to sustainability.

Multinational corporations have already played a vital role in averting an ecological crisis by helping to develop solutions to the hole in the ozone layer and the resulting threat of more rapid global warming.

Hugh Wilson, Professor of Marketing, and Rosina Watson, Associate Professor of Sustainability at Cranfield School of Management and Teaching Associate at WBS, reveal how firms such as McDonalds, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Unilever worked with Greenpeace to lobby for tighter regulation on damaging hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in refrigeration units and to develop more environmentally-friendly alternatives.

They also draw on their interviews with leading industry figures to identify lessons for companies that are embarking on similar collaborations to reduce their environmental impact.

Core 16 boasts a wide range of research on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) issues, including:

  • How investors can balance environmental impact and financial returns
  • What companies should expect from the energy transition
  • Advice for founders seeking investment for their sustainable start-ups
  • A new way to market local products to maximise their appeal
  • How multinationals can reduce the risk of scandals in their supply chains.

Adopting a more sustainable approach

Andy Lockett, Dean of Warwick Business School and Professor of Strategy & Entrepreneurship, said: “Businesses – and business schools – have a vital role to play in meeting the environmental and social challenges we face.

“At WBS, we are embracing that challenge. Our faculty is conducting a wide range of research into sustainability challenges and solutions.

“And we have embedded sustainability across our teaching programmes to equip business leaders with the tools they need to drive meaningful change.”

Warwick Business School’s Full-time MBA is ranked second globally in the Corporate Knights Better World MBA Ranking for large schools.

It offers candidates the option to specialise in Social and Environmental Sustainability.

We have also launched a number of sustainability-focused programmes, such as our Executive Education programme, Leading Corporate Sustainability, and the MSc Accounting and Sustainability.

We are part of the Council on Business and Society, a network of business schools spanning six continents with a mission to educate responsible leaders and promote sustainable business practices.

And we are committed to reducing our own carbon footprint, working with the University of Warwick to buy more renewable energy and produce our own through solar power and heat pumps.

That helped the University to lower emissions by 18 per cent between 2010 and 2020 despite adding more student buildings.

Further reading:

Core 15: Leadership-focused edition of WBS Core magazine out now

Core 14: EDI-focused edition of WBS Core magazine out now

 

Read Core 16 online and download a copy of the magazine now.